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Friday, July 4, 2014

The International Monetary Fund on Thursday said the economy in the West Bank and Gaza is weakening and urged Israel to lift restrictions on the Palestinians.

Rubhiya Abd al-Rahman Darwish, 75, was taken to the hospital after Israeli forces fired Skunk water with a cannon into her home... Darwish, the 75-year-old woman who passed out after soldiers sprayed the
putrid-smelling water into her window, expressed her resignation at the
repeated Israeli attacks on her home.

A refugee originally from
the village of Malha near Jerusalem, Darwish was forced to leave her
home with her family when Zionist forces came and expelled them from the
town in 1948.

"Where should we go?" she asked, sitting on the
couch of her small apartment as she looked up at the roughly-patched up
window broken by the water cannon.

WASHINGTON (AFP) -- The
International Monetary Fund on Thursday said the economy in the West
Bank and Gaza is weakening and urged Israel to lift restrictions on the
Palestinians.

After briefing the international donor community
and the Palestinian Authority, IMF mission chief Christoph Duenwald said
in a statement that the authority is "doing a commendable job" managing
the economy in difficult circumstances.

He said the global donor community needed to step up to help fill a "sizable" financing gap this year for the authority.

"Against the background of rising political uncertainty, the economy of the West Bank and Gaza is weakening," he said.

"Unemployment, particularly youth unemployment, currently at 43 percent, continues to rise from already high levels," he added.

"Continued
donor support is vital at this time, as is a comprehensive easing of
Israeli restrictions to underpin the Palestinian reform efforts."

According
to a February forecast, the IMF saw the economy in the West Bank and
Gaza growing 2.5 percent this year, up from 1.5 percent in 2013.